Press Team

Despite our global scale, the ERI maintains a very small internal cadre dedicated to research and development. Most of our manufacturing and organization is handled by our subsidiaries and partners. Our current press team is composed of one member, Vivid Atelier.

Ms. Atelier is not currently accepting applications for assistance. Regardless, if you would like to forward your resume to her, she will make sure it is on file for six months should the need arise. Please see our corporate page for contact information.

No scientist is better known in Equestria than Dr. T Light, and with good reason. A humble, but very talented, hacker from a young age, she built many of her own tools due to frustrations with existing ones. She fabricated her own router at age 10, and conducted a number of white-hat hacks on public databases before she even left high-school.

Light and her adoptive brother Spike were unfortunate enough to be involved in the Everfree Ruins Incident of 2099. Though she does not talk about it often, what little she has said is that she was inspired what by what went on there. Upon beginning her post-secondary education, she dominated the Computer Science department and distinguished herself almost immediately.

The achievement which won her her first Nobel Prize almost need not be spoken. The development of the AI named Zero stunned the world and sent shock-waves through the scientific community. The prize money would serve as the seed, which Dr. Light used to found the ERI along with several generous donations from some anonymous donors.

During the second world-war, Dr. Light led the ERI in Equestria’s efforts to end the conflict definitively and with as little bloodshed as possible. While still a fledgling organization, many of the design principles and battle-tested schematics that would later become street-sweepers and aerial-reconnaissance drones were created during these dark times.

Dr. T Light currently leads the ERI toward its goal of securing Equestria’s future from the pollution and decay which has plagued it for decades. She currently is engaged in several major projects which she hopes will revolutionize science as we know it yet again.

“Never lose faith in your friends. They can be an amazing source of strength, and can help you overcome even your greatest fears.”

Vivid (pronounced ‘Vi-Vi’) is a French-Equestrian biochemist who specializes in the use of bacteria to develop micro-structures with accuracy that existing technology cannot match. Her doctoral thesis was concocted with the generous help of Dr. T Light (then a professor emeritus) and under the tutelage of Pf. Higgs and Pf. Mendelev.

While working on her thesis paper, Vivid was employed at a cafe just outside the university campus. She served drinks for minimum wage, having supported herself after her scholarship ran out. Despite the implications, no financial backers had expressed any interest in her research and her experiments needed to prove her thesis would remain out of her reach.

Then, one day, Dr. T Light dropped in for a few cups of tea while reviewing her notes. Vivid happened to serve her, and noticed that many of the errors and problems the wayward unicorn was having were due to accuracy issues. Vivid pointed out this solution to Dr. T Light, who was stunned by the simplicity of the solution. She asked Vivid to consult, and soon found herself funding Vivid’s doctoral research.

Because of the small size of the ERI’s core research team, Vivid pulls double-duty as head of the ERI’s public relations branch. In addition to being its head, she is its sole member.

Vivid’s current research topic involves the use of directed bacterial colonies in the construction of directed-energy microcrystals, which Dr. T Light intends to use to once again revolutionize technology by amplifying a unicorn’s innate magical powers. Despite her young age, her enthusiasm and skill makes up for her lack of experience, and Vivid intends to bring the benefits of her research before the Nobel Committee someday very soon.

“If you can’t look at yourself in the mirror, then you’ve either done too much thinking, or not enough.”

Born and raised in Canterlot’s notoriously rough west-side, Jay Scuttlies spent much of his life without any particular ambition or focus. During the second world-war, his father was drafted into the military and severely wounded in combat. Frustrated during his youth, Jay fell in with the wrong crowd, and was arrested several times for petty vandalism and violence.

All that changed when Jay was arrested and sentenced to 3 years in Brunhilde prison. Once inside, the behavior of his fellow inmates awoke a new sense of pity. He saw that they (and he) were the products of their environments, and that changing that environment could prevent the same fate befalling others. He threw himself into his studies and was released after his 3-year term was up, having taken many courses from the U of C through correspondence.

Jay is currently working to resume his Masters in Engineering after being suspended at University of Canterlot. However, due to the personal intervention of Dr. T Light, he has joined the ERI officially as its Applied Engineering head and hopes to receive the recognition that they both know he deserves.

Currently, Mr. Scuttlies is developing AI routines that will be able to tell ‘friend’ from ‘foe’ based on complex internal logic. Though obvious military applications for defensive batteries spring to mind, Jay hopes his inventions will be of use to clear the debris fields which currently make space-exploration a dangerous proposition.

Thunder Strike was born in Los Pegasus to an immigrant family from Nipponia. Like many young Nipponese-Equestrians, he was soon pressured into athletics to bring fame to his family. Unfortunately, unlike most of his family, Thunder Strike is a unicorn and thus, not very athletic. Even though he did his best, he simply could not compete on any reasonable level. So instead of trying to be something he was not, Thunder Strike focused on his true passion; science and robotics, which was something his family neither understood nor cared much about. In an effort to reconcile his passion and appease his family, he started developing exoskeletons and dabbling in prosthetics without much success.

Depressed, Thunder postponed his post-secondary education over the objections of his parents, and toured Equestria for two years. It was during his wanderings that he learned of an extremely risky prosthesis program seeking volunteers. He signed up without even considering the ramifications.

The prosthesis program was a resounding failure, and several investigations were launched at the dodgy company which funded them. Thunder, however, saw in this failure the seeds of success. He returned home and began his education in the field of medicine.

Though he has never been a practising physician, Thunder completed over a dozen research papers within three years of his doctoral thesis being accepted, crisscrossing the country to coordinate with all his colleagues. He found and contacted every scientist researching physical augmentation and is widely considered the most knowledgeable pony on the subject, even going so far as being unanimously declared their “Go-To Pony” on prostheses by the Equestrian Medical Association.

In 2127, Thunder was tapped by the ERI for a program that would allow limited flight using manoeuvring thrusters controlled by an experimental neural interface, attached directly to the spinal column. Building on his prior experiments and using himself as the test subject, Thunder used himself as the test subject and once again found himself soaring through the sky – until the thrusters malfunctioned and he was forced to parachute back to earth.

Thunder continues his work at the ERI, hoping to bring physical augmentation to the world as a safe, reliable technology. He hopes that the lame may walk again, and that those with similar bone diseases will not be prohibited from flight. In time, he even hopes to extend the lifetimes of ponies well beyond their normal limits through artificial organ transplants, though that technology may be decades away.

John Doe was born in [redacted] to two loving [classified]. He [redacted] and [redacted], but [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] fate [redacted] two pounds of butter and a pile of pink feathers. Despite this, he won the card game by [redacted] and the ducks fled before any [redacted].

Mr. Doe currently serves the ERI as the official liaison with Equestria’s military forces. He has been in many parts of the world and taken part in many activities, all of which he has declined to elaborate on. He likes [redacted] pie and prefers, when given the choice of dogs or cats, [redacted].